McLeish seeks break from beatings amid the black and blue

Alex McLeish would be forgiven for heading into tonight's Champions League clash with Internazionale with a sigh of relief at leaving his domestic worries hundreds of miles behind.

Rangers were beaten by Hearts at the weekend, their third defeat of the season, but won their opening Group H match at home to Porto and know that another high-profile win would, temporarily at least, lift the malaise that engulfs Ibrox. "We haven't done as well as we would have hoped at this stage in the domestic season but this is a different kettle of fish," said the Rangers manager. "We know that Inter are favourites and have an array of stars in their team. We need to try to up our performance level and I think that will give everybody more confidence."

Rangers will be without Nacho Novo, the Spanish striker having had surgery in a Glasgow clinic on Monday on a broken bone in his left foot, for tonight's match, which will be played behind closed doors because Inter are under a four-match spectator ban. The nerazzurri, with half an eye on this weekend's league encounter with the Serie A leaders Juventus, will not be at full strength either. The Italians are without the injured Cristiano and Javier Zanetti, have Juan Verón suspended, and may rest Luis Figo.

One thing augurs well for Inter, however. The last time they met Rangers in Europe's premier competition, in 1964-65, they went on to win the tournament.